Construction with prefabricated building structures saves on-site building time and has been popular since the 19th century for houses, condos, and commercial projects. Building panels have various applications, such as exterior and interior walls, partitions, floors, roofs, and foundation systems. There are different forms of building panels, such as structural insulated panels (SIPs) or prefabricated concrete blocks. Existing structural insulated panels generally comprise an insulating layer sandwiched between two layers of structural boards. Popular materials for the insulating layer include expanded polystyrene foam (EPS), extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), polyisocyanurate foam, polyurethane foam, or composite honeycomb (HSC), while the structural boards may be sheet metal, plywood, cement, magnesium oxide board (MgO), or oriented strand board (OSB).
Even with the structural boards, as a building structure, the strength of a structural insulated panel has always been a major concern for consumers, especially those living in areas where natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes frequently strike. Numerous improvements to building panels have been patented and marketed. Examples of existing reinforcing members used for building panels include thin reinforcing strips and/or wire mesh as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,094,110, 4,241,555, and 4,284,447, rigid thermoplastic sheets as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,296, wire plus concreate beams as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,718, and steel studs as used in ThermaSteel™ wall panels.
Nonetheless, existing inventions and products either do not create building panels that are sufficiently strong to withstand natural disasters or are heavy and/or expensive because of large amounts of metals used. Therefore, a building panel that has high load bearing capabilities while using less expensive materials and having less weight is desired.